PC/CD Gamer UK 42/PCGAMER42.bin/games/flight95/readme.txt

Text File | 1996-10-28 | 8KB | 176 lines

Flight Unlimited for Windows'95

The following are a few important items for the Flight Unlimited demo:

-- On some machines, there is a possibility that there will be a problem
installing DirectX from our installer. In this case, DirectX can be manually
installed by running the "dxsetup.exe" program which resides on the CD in
        redist\directx\dxsetup.exe
Your machine should reboot after installing the DirectX components.

-- If you are having strange video problems, you may be able to get a
new direct draw driver for your video card from your card vendor or
Microsoft.  Please contact your hardware vendor for more information.

-- We have developed a keyboard interface that makes Flight playable
without a joystick or other peripherals.  See below.

-- Don't forget to calibrate your joystick both in Flight Unlimited
and in the control panel in Win95!

-- In order for the game to detect your joystick's throttle, the throttle
must be centered on the joystick when you start the game up.

We hope you enjoy the game!

Flight Unlimited Windows '95 Development Team
Looking Glass Technologies


*****************************************************************************
* WHERE TO FIND THE TERRA NOVA DEMO                                         *
* Insert the demo CD into your CD-ROM drive and let the autorun feature     *
* bring up the installer. Select Option 2: Install the 10 mission demo of   *
* Terra Nova. Then simply follow the on-screen prompts to install the demo. *
*****************************************************************************


Technical and Gameplay Notes


TECHNICAL NOTES

DirectX:
The current release of Microsoft's DirectX is version 3.0. Please ensure
that you have the latest software driver for your particular video card to
achieve the best results (especially if you are experiencing problems
installing and/or running the demo). Contact either you video card manufacturer
or system vendor, as necessary.

Joysticks:
Joysticks need to be calibrated BOTH in Windows 95 in the JOYSTICK CONTROL PANEL
and Flight'95.

In the lowest Terrain detail level, turning on the Blending option in
the Renderer section of the In-Flight Menu has no effect.

If you eject the Flight Unlimited CD from your CD drive during
installation, you may cause an error in the installation which will
prevent Flight from running properly.  If this occurs, please delete your
previous Flight directory and re-install.

You must have at least 15 megabytes of space on your hard drive to run
Flight Unlimited.  If Flight Unlimited suddenly won't start with the
error message "Not enough hard drive space", you may have filled up the
hard drive with in-flight recordings.  You can delete them by hand by going
into your 'logs' directory and deleting some of the larger rec.# files.


FLYING WITH THE KEYBOARD

Flight's keyboard flying interface has been implemented to
meet the demands of aerobatics flying.  You may find it differs from
keyboard systems on other flight simulators you have tried.  We
have found that with this keyboard system you can make small
adjustments, hold a fixed attitude, and also make rapid, forceful changes.
It may be unfamiliar for a short while, but it is very effective in
allowing you to fly.

The keys function as follows:

-If you tap a key, the control surface it is linked to moves slightly,
then settles back to neutral.

-Tapping rapidly will quickly bring the surface to full deflection.

-If you hold a key down, this holds the control surface fixed in its
current position.  When you release the key it returns to neutral.

-You can center any control surface by pressing the key opposite
its current deflection - e.g., if you have full down elevator, you
can center instantly by pressing number-pad 2.

The keys are laid out as follows:

ALT + any key or number-pad ENTER + any key moves that control surface as
far as it can go.

On the number-pad:

7=full left rudder  8=down elevator  9=full right rudder

4=left aileron      5=centers elevators 6= right aileron

1=left rudder       2=up elevator    3=right rudder

There are also rudder keys for the left hand:

a=left rudder  d=right rudder

If you have a joystick and don't have rudder pedals, you may want to
fly with the joystick in one hand and your off-hand on the rudder keys.

By holding down the ALT or number-pad ENTER key all the time, you can
create an approximation of a more standard flight-simulator keyboard
interface, if that is what you prefer.


PLAYING THE GAME

First of all, note that there are NO hoops courses in the demo. Also note
that there is NO LOGBOOK present. These features are only available in the full
commercial version of Flight Unlimited for Windows '95.

Secondly, there is only a single aircraft and FBO offered in the demo (the Pitts
Special and Springfield, respectively).

When you're flying, you should be wary of putting your plane in an
accelerated stall.  Pulling the stick back quickly, all the way, is often
less effective than pulling back gently and firmly.  When you slam the
stick back suddenly, you can stall your wing briefly, so that you lose
airspeed and actually pull up more slowly than you would with a slower
pull.

Flight starts with the gyroscopic flight model set to on as a default
(you can change it in the In-Flight Menu: Options panel).  The gyroscopic
flight model (as opposed to the standard model) is unique to Flight,
makes for exquisitely realistic flying, and lets you do cool things you can't
do on any other simulator.  It allows for gyroscopic effects such as slipstream,
torque, and gyroscopic precession (see Chapter 8 of the manual, p. 50-51
for an explanation of these effects).  However, if these effects are
making it difficult for you to fly the lessons (particularly if you don't
have rudder pedals), you may want to switch to the standard flight model,
which is simplified but in some ways easier to cope with.

Flight starts out with the screen resolution set to 640x480 while you're
flying.  You will probably want to adjust screen resolution for yourself
(alt-m while flying, or the View section in the In-Flight Menu) Flight
offers a wide variety of screen resolutions, including 1024x768 mode (this
mode gives a display of almost one million pixels, among the highest SVGA
displays and frame rates available anywhere; understandably, it will not give
you as high a frame rate as 320x200 mode).  You can find your own balance
between graphics quality and gameplay speed, depending on your preferences
and the capabilities of your computer.

Like real planes, the planes in Flight can take damaged by high-G
stresses and overspeeding (if your airspeed indicator is near or at
the red mark, you are probably overspeeding), and can even break apart in
mid-air!  When you hear your wings start to creak from the strain, you may
want to take it easy, or switch your plane strength from normal to nigh-
invulnerable mode.  For this reason, you will probably not always want to
fly with your throttle at max.

We have added an additional camera view in Flight - the ground camera.
It is available through the In-Flight Menu: View panel, or by cycling
through views by pressing c or shift-c.  It shows the plane from a fixed
vantage point on the ground, as a spectator might see it during an air-show
or aerobatics competition.  You can zoom in and out as you would in
other views.

When you are flying a towed takeoff in the Grob, you'll be better off
not using the rudders.  Just use your ailerons to keep the wings level.

Once again, don't forget to calibrate your joystick!  You must calibrate
both in Win95 controls panel and in the controls in the In-Flight Menu.